PowerSchool Learn (SaaS or 9.1 Oct 2014+) Integration

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1 Overview... 2 Integration Goals... 2 Dependencies... 2 Steps to Integrate using Learn... 2 Enabling the SIS Central Building Block... 3 Launching the Blackboard SIS Central Service... 3 Installing the Blackboard plugin for PowerSchool... 4 SIS Central Auto- Registration and Connection Settings... 7 Add Enrollment Schedule... 8 SIS Central Landing Page Add Grade Schedule Manually Run a Data Extraction Now for ANY Data Set The Extraction Log and SIS Record Count Snapshot Appendix A Passwords and SSO Appendix B Parent/Child Grade Backflow Support P age

2 Overview PowerSchool Learn (SaaS or 9.1 Oct 2014+) Integration Blackboard offers a bi- directional data integration service between the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) and Blackboard Learn (SaaS deployment or Blackboard Learn 9.1 Oct 2014 release or higher) using the Blackboard SIS Central Service. With this integration, Blackboard is using the current read/write capabilities of the PowerSchool API to its fullest extent: Clients will be able to push user (student/staff), course, and membership enrollment data originating in PowerSchool to Blackboard Learn. Outcomes (gradable items/assignments) entered into Blackboard Learn are pushed automatically to PowerSchool according the Grade Job Schedule. Integration Goals Provides the most hands- free integration that minimizes the time required by District IT personnel to integrate the SIS with the LMS. Minimizes the amount of manual student data that instructors have to enter into the LMS from the SIS for each class. Allows instructors to avoid having to double- enter assignment grades from the LMS into the SIS grade book for each class. Seamlessly synchronizes the courses, assignments, and grades between the SIS and LMS. Provide instructors access to the complete student learning data picture to customize learning to increase student achievement. Dependencies Learn K- 12 License: Learn SaaS or Learn 9.1 Oct 2014 release or higher. Learn System Admin Access to enable the SIS Central Building Block and to access Blackboard SIS Central Service. Client is on PowerSchool v8.2. PowerSchool Admin Access to install the Blackboard provided plugin that contains the API key required for Blackboard to communicate with the client s instance of PowerSchool. Steps to Integrate using Learn Step 1 Enable the SIS Central Building Block and Access Blackboard SIS Central Step 2 Download and Install the PowerSchool Plugin file provided by Blackboard Step 3 Verify the Connection Settings Step 4 Schedule the Enrollment Extraction Step 5 Schedule the Grade Extraction 2 P age

3 Enabling the SIS Central Building Block 1. As a Learn system administrator, access the Building Blocks page in Learn and click on Installed Tools > SIS Central > Make Available. Launching the Blackboard SIS Central Service 2. As a Learn system administrator, access the Data Integration page in Learn. 3. Click on the Blackboard SIS Central Service link, which initiates a secure LTI launch to SIS Central that authenticates you and redirects you to SIS Central. 3 P age

4 Installing the Blackboard plugin for PowerSchool To begin the synchronization of student information system (SIS) data from PowerSchool into Learn, and to enable grade transfers from Learn into PowerSchool, you must first install a plugin on your PowerSchool system. A customized PowerSchool Plugin is already generated for each institution and is available from the download link. This plugin contains the institution s ID, which is passed back to SIS Central along with the PowerSchool key and secret where the plugin is installed in PowerSchool. SIS Central uses this information to automatically configure the connection settings for each institution. 1. Click on the Download the plugin link and save the zipped file to your machine. Do NOT unzip the file. 2. Login as a system administrator and navigate to System > System Settings > Plugin Management Dashboard in your instance of PowerSchool to Install the plugin. 4 P age

5 3. After clicking Install, browse for the saved Blackboard_API.zip file on your machine, select it, and click Install. 4. Click to Register the plugin. 5. Click OK. 6. Check the box under Enable/Disable to enable the plugin. 5 P age

6 7. As part of enabling the plugin, PowerSchool provides a list of the database fields and tables that will be used with the plugin. Click Enable. 8. Verify the plugin was enabled successfully. 6 P age

7 SIS Central Auto- Registration and Connection Settings 1. Click I m Ready to Continue in SIS Central. 2. Execute a Test Connection, which initiates a request to the PowerSchool server using the provided key/secret. You will see Connection verified as successful. Click Save. Note: The Override PowerSchool Key + Secret link is available should it need to be updated for any reason. 7 P age

8 Add Enrollment Schedule Once the connection is verified, you can proceed with setting up the first enrollment schedule for your institution. When setting up the Enrollment schedule, you can choose Schedule Settings, Validation Rules, and Data Mapping for Courses, Students, Staff, and Learn Roles. Important: SIS central is designed to pull in all courses that exist in PowerSchool. However, we have a backend filter for first- time customer setup so only current courses "created in PowerSchool after a certain date are created in Learn. In doing so, customers avoid pulling in all historical courses that are no longer used or applicable for current and future students. Your Blackboard Solutions Engineer will provide more information on this feature as part of the implementation process. When courses are first created by the integration, the course is not available to students so teachers can add content and work with their school to determine when to make the course available to students. If a teacher or Learn system administrator has made the course available, it will remain available to students on future updates. In PowerSchool, student enrollment status can include many things, such as Currently Enrolled, Inactive, Pre- registered, Transferred out, Graduated, and Imported as Historical. Blackboard SIS Central will only create Enrolled students in Blackboard Learn. 1. Choose to rename the Enrollment schedule to something else. (Optional) 8 P age

9 2. Under Schedule Settings You will see the Data Set Type, options for selecting which Run Days you want the schedule to run each week, and a Start Time. 3. Under Validation Rules You select what behavior you want for deleted or invalid record types, if an enrollment is deleted from PowerSchool or if data from PowerSchool is missing/invalid. 9 P age

10 4. Under Data Mapping: Courses You will see required Source (PowerSchool) fields on the left that map to Destination Fields (Learn) on the right. Below the required fields are optional fields that you can choose Ignore from the drop- down menu. Important: The system of "record" for courses is PowerSchool. Thus, changes made only in Learn by instructors to courses are at risk of being overwritten by changes made in PowerSchool. 10 P age

11 5. Under Data Mapping: Students You will see required Source (PowerSchool) fields on the left that map to Destination Fields (Learn) on the right. Below the required fields are optional fields that you can choose Ignore from the drop- down menu. Note: Please See Appendix A for information on the Password field. 11 P age

12 6. Under Data Mapping: Staff You will see required Source (PowerSchool) fields on the left that map to Destination Fields (Learn) on the right. Below the required fields are optional fields that you can choose Ignore from the drop- down menu. Note: Please See Appendix A for information on the Password field. 12 P age

13 7. Under Data Mapping: Roles You will select from the drop- down menu the Learn Institution Role for Students and Staff. In most cases, institutions will select the default values of Students and Staff from the corresponding drop- down menus. As part of your Learn System Admin setup, you can manage access to tabs and modules and the social features independently for the different institutional roles. You can also manage the Learn roles list itself. This list is found and managed under the Admin Console of Learn > Users > Institution Roles. 8. Under Data Mapping: Roles You will select from the drop- down menu the Learn Course Role for Staff. These are the available teaching roles that Learn ships by default. In most cases, institutions will select the default value of Instructor from the drop- down menu. As part of your Learn System Admin setup, you can define these roles in Learn. This list is found and managed under the Admin Console of Learn > Users > Course/Organizational Roles. There may be an institution that has setup a custom course role that is less that the permissions setup for instructors teaching the course. 13 P age

14 9. Preview Before saving the enrollment schedule, you can click Preview. The preview connects to PowerSchool and displays the total number of records for each record type. The preview provides the first five records pulled during the full extraction for Courses, Students, Staff, and Memberships. You can scroll across to see a sample of the data for each field- mapping element. 14 P age

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16 10. Close out of the Preview window, make any desired changes to the mapping (re- preview if needed), and click Save. On the notice, Congratulations, Your First Data Extraction is Scheduled, click Continue Setup or Back to Learn. 16 P age

17 SIS Central Landing Page This is an overview of all the features available on the Landing Page once the connection is in place with PowerSchool. 1. Link that takes you back to the Learn Admin Console. 2. Link that takes you to SIS Central Help Page. 3. Access to Connection Settings and History (audit trail) of any changes made to the connection settings. 4. This lists the Total SIS Records stored in SIS Central. 5. This lists the Data Set Type (Enrollment) for the scheduled job. 6. This lists the Run Status (Ready) and Date/Time of the next scheduled run. 7. This shows the status of the job as Enabled On/Off, allowing you to turn the scheduled job Off without having to delete and create a new data extraction. 8. Access to override the schedule and manually run the job at anytime. 9. Access to edit and make changes to the current data set. 10. Access to delete the selected data set permanently from SIS Central. 17 P age

18 Add Grade Schedule Click Add Schedule from the SIS Central Landing Page to setup the grade schedule for your institution. (Optional) When setting up the Grade schedule, you can choose Schedule Settings, Validation Rules, and Data Mapping for Assignments and Scores. 1. Choose to rename the Grade schedule to something else. (Optional) 18 P age

19 2. Under Schedule Settings You will see the Data Set Type and the Grade Sync Date Range. This allows you the option of choosing a date range for syncing scores. 3. Under Schedule Settings You will see the Data Set Type, options for selecting the which Run Days you want the schedule to run each week, and a Start Time. 19 P age

20 4. Under Validation Rules Select what behavior you want for assignments with No Scores in Learn and assignments that are Deleted from Learn. In addition, you can choose the behavior for scores that are Empty in Learn. Details: If an assignment has no scores in Learn, you can choose the corresponding behavior in PowerSchool: Create an empty assignment in PowerSchool with no scores. Do not create the assignment in PowerSchool until there are scores. Note: Once any score is entered for the assignment in Learn, it will create the assignment in PowerSchool. If an assignment is deleted from a Learn course, you can choose the corresponding behavior in PowerSchool: Delete it from PowerSchool. Mark it unpublished in PowerSchool. If a score is empty in Learn, you can choose whether you want to erase the grades in PowerSchool or not: Do not send the score to PowerSchool. Clear the grade in PowerSchool. 20 P age

21 5. Under Data Mapping: Assignments You will see required Source (Learn) fields on the left that map to Destination Fields (PowerSchool) on the right. Below the required fields are optional fields that you can choose Use Default from the drop- down menu. 21 P age

22 6. When mapping to the PowerSchool Destination Field for Abbreviation, you can choose Grade Center Name or Column Name from the Learn drop- down menu. 7. When mapping to the PowerSchool Destination Field for Description, you can choose Description, Column Name, or Category from the Learn drop- down menu. 22 P age

23 8. When mapping the Learn Category Field to PowerSchool, you can choose one of the four currently supported PowerSchool Categories: Homework, Quiz, Test, Project, or choose Use Default from the drop- down menu. A. If the existing category in Learn matches (case- insensitively) one of the categories supported in the PowerSchool API, it will use that category. B. If the existing category in Learn does not match or is not defined, send the choice made on the mapping page. 23 P age

24 9. Under Data Mapping: Scores You will see required Source (Learn) fields on the left that map to Destination Fields (PowerSchool) on the right. Below the required fields are optional fields that you can choose Ignore from the drop- down menu. 10. When mapping to the PowerSchool Destination Field for Comments, you can choose Ignore or For Student Comments from the Learn drop- down menu. 24 P age

25 11. Preview Before saving the grade schedule, you can click Preview. The preview connects to PowerSchool and displays the total number of records for each record type. The preview provides the first five records pulled during the full extraction for grades. You can scroll across to see a sample of the data for each field- mapping element. 25 P age

26 12. Close out of the Preview window, make any desired changes to the mapping (re- preview if needed), and click Save. Upon saving the grade schedule, you will get sent back to the SIS Central Landing Page where you will see the grade schedule. 26 P age

27 Manually Run a Data Extraction Now for ANY Data Set 1. Click the Play icon, which will first generate a preview. 2. Click Run Now. 27 P age

28 Upon clicking Run Now it will take you back to the Landing Page and after a few seconds you will see the Run Status switch to Running. The Extraction Log and SIS Record Count Snapshot As a job processes, it is pulling in ALL the records from PowerSchool for Staff, Student, Course, and Role Data, mapping the contents to a common data format and pushing it to Learn. For more detailed information about the job, click the Extraction Log tab. 1. This identifies that the job was manually initiated vs. scheduled. 2. Click Running to view detailed information for the job. 28 P age

29 3. After you click Running, you will see Detailed Information that provides a sub- task breakdown of the data parts for Students, Staff, Courses, and Memberships. 29 P age

30 4. By clicking the Total SIS Records, you will see a summarized snapshot of the SIS record counts as the job processes. Note: Depending on the size of the school it takes an average of 20 minutes for each job to complete. 30 P age

31 Appendix A Passwords and SSO When setting up users for Learn, a default password is required unless your institution is already using an external single sign- on (SSO)/Authentication provider for password management between PowerSchool and Learn. These instructions are for clients who already have SSO setup with Learn. 1. Select None from the drop- down menu for the Password. 2. Note the alert message and click Yes to continue. 31 P age

32 3. Repeat the same steps for staff, by selecting None from the drop- down menu for the Password. 4. Note the alert message and click Yes to continue. 32 P age

33 Appendix B Parent/Child Grade Backflow Support The SIS Central grade schedule supports pulling grades back to PowerSchool when a Parent- Child relationship exists between classes or their enrollments have been merged in Learn. Important: Once enrollments are created in Learn the first time using SIS Central, customers have the ability to setup Parent- Child course relationships, also known as Merged Courses. However, SIS Central does not have visibility of the Parent- Child courses. Therefore, you must use a course that is not associated with the SIS Central integration as the Parent course as this is the only supported method. While this can be completed manually, the recommended best practice is to work with a Blackboard Solutions Engineer to generate a file including the courses managed by SIS Central. In doing so, a Blackboard Solutions Engineer will provide assistance to utilize the SIS Integration Framework process to create the association between the parent and child classes. As you can see by the Child Class ID column, this Gradebook includes two different child classes associated to this parent course. 33 P age

34 When a grade is entered in the Learn Grade center in a parent course that grade is then posted into the section associated with the child class in the PowerSchool Gradebook: 34 P age